History of Vernon County, Wisconsin. Together with sketches of its towns and villages, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens.

              HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY
491
CHAPTIlR   XXXII
THE TOWN OF CLINTON.
Clinton is situated on the northern line of the county and comprises congressional town¬ ship 14, range 3 west, containing 23,139 acres of land. The general surface of this town is very broken and hilly, composed largely of val¬ leys and ridges. The bluffs along the streams present almost perpendicular fronts, rising in many instances, to a great height from the rivers' bed. The soil in the valleys is of a black sandy character, and very productive; the up¬ land in the northern part of the town, produces excellent crops of wheat, oats and other cereals. In the southern part of the town is found a black loam with a clay sub-soil. All of this town was originally covered with timber, ex¬ cept about forty acres in the northeast corner; this was on section 11, and was included in the original entry of John Masterson, the first set¬ tler of the town. The chief varieties of timber are the white, red and burr oak, with some hard maple, bass wood and butternut. The heaviest growth of timber extends in a belt from the northwest to the southeast corner of the town, and embraces about four-fifths of the entire area of the town.
The principal stream flowing through Clin¬ ton, is the west branch of the Kickapoo river, which rises on section 6, its source being a large spring pond, on the farm of Charles Jersey; it runs south from its source, to the middle of section 7, then flows west into the town of Christiana, re-entering the town of Clinton on the southwest quarter of section 19, thence in a southeasterly direction, leaving the town from section 31.    This river has several branches in
the town. The first in importance, of these, is the "Chaplain branch," consisting of two streams, one rising on the northwest corner of section 4, and the other on section 15; they unite on section 8, and taking a southwesterly course, enter the main stream on section 30. What is known as the "Gillett branch" of the Kickapoo river, rises on section 16, runs south¬ west, and unites with the main stream on the southeast quarter of section 30. The "Pierce branch" takes its rise on section 34, and leaves the town from section 32, entering the main stream in the town of Webster. Weister creek is a smaller stream, which also has a number of small branches, which unite in the southeast part of the town, thus forming a good sized stream before they leave the borders of the town, from section 36. Another small stream, a branch of Brush creek, has its rise on the west side of section 2, and leaves the town from section 1.
EARLY   SETTLEMENT.
The first man to make an actual settlement in the town of Clinton was John Masterson, who in May, 1854, located on the northwest quarter of section 11. He was an Irishman by birth, born in the county of Mayo. He went to Canada, when young, and from there to Ohio, from which State he came to this locality. At the time he settled here his family consisted of his wife and four children—Mary Jane, Wil¬ liam, Michael and Eliza. He resided where he first located till his death, about twenty years later. He was twice married; his second wife survived him, and in 1884 was a resident of La-